Manufacturing Today Issue - 218 November 2023 | Page 100

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required for start-stop automotive applications . The main focus over the last ten-to-15-years has been automation and high-speed production , as well as , of course , health and safety in the manufacturing area with improvements in ventilation and extraction .

Richard adds : “ Internally , as the operations have grown , we ’ ve gone from a small workforce to a much larger one , which has required us to implement a rigorous process control system . My predecessor , David Longney , saw the need for modernization , hence he introduced an ERP system in 2017 and moved us to our current facility with 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space .

“ Personally , I was brought into the company four-and-a-half years ago to examine continuous improvement and lean manufacturing ,” he reflects . “ We ’ ve rearranged the factory to make product flow all the way from supply chain through to manufacturing and testing . It was a transitional period of two-to-three years that has enabled more efficient processes and bolstered our position in the industry .”

Growth strategy

Despite little change in the market , TBS has continued its path of innovation . “ We ’ ve introduced various technologies to our machine ranges to increase both efficiency and reliability ,” Richard informs us . “ Key to our vision over the next five years is to keep innovating and looking at Industry 4.0 adoption so that we can offer customers predictive maintenance , cloud-based computing and data processing .

“ I ’ d like us to be in a position to offer remote maintenance too . We ’ re looking at state-of-the-art augmented reality technology to enable us to carry out real time maintenance support from our facilities , saving both us and our customers time .”

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